Uninjured theater shooting ticket holder paid by T.V. show for interviews on lawsuit

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Torrence Brown, Jr. (Facebook)

Uninjured theater shooting ticket holder paid by T.V. show for interviews on lawsuit

Torrence Brown, Jr. (Facebook)

AURORA, Colo. — The family of a physically uninjured 18-year-old suing three parties over “extreme trauma” they say their son suffered witnessing the Aurora theater shooting is refusing interview requests from local media due to an “exclusive contract” the family says it has with a nationally syndicated T.V. show.

Torrence Brown Jr.’s father has told several media outlets that he cannot provide information on his son’s lawsuit due to a deal the family struck with “Entertainment Tonight.”

Brown’s father referred to an “exclusive contract,” which suggests the family is receiving money from the television show for information. He has not gone into details about the contract.

ABC News reported it paid $200,000 to Casey Anthony for an exclusive interview in 2008. That would appear be on the high end of the information contract spectrum, according to a report from the Denver Post. The newspaper reported that media outlets who pay for information typically extend offers between $5,000 and $10,000.

One of Brown’s close friends, A.J. Boik, died in the Aurora theater shooting. Brown’s lawsuit names three defendants — Century 16 theater in Aurora, shooting suspect James E. Holmes’ doctors and Warner Bros. studios.

The lawsuit claims the movie theater “was negligent” in not alarming or guarding its emergency door, Holmes’ doctors did not properly monitor the shooting suspect after prescribing him certain medications and that the Warner Bros. film, “The Dark Knight Rises,” gave the shooting suspect the motivation for his attack.